Local events

Come to Laurel Book Store for a day PACKED with Family Fun! Let the kids play and hear stories while you do your shopping!

We'll have the gifts you need, free wrapping, and entertainment for you and your kids! Come through!We're thrilled to have author Lucille Lang Day and illustrator Gina Aoay Orosco to launch their book The Rainbow Zoo AND author Meg Fleming to launch her book I Heart You. Don't miss these great new children's illustrated books!

The Rainbow Zoo is a magical place where you might find animals of any hue. Accompanying two children on a tour of the Rainbow Zoo, readers learn the names of animals and the names of colors. They also learn that whatever color animals might be, they are beautiful and special. The book thus celebrates diversity.

Little ones adore being independent and trying new things. But they also need Mom and Dad’s reassurance and snuggles. With her spare, lyrical text, debut author Meg Fleming captures the exuberance, the affection, and the tender push-and-pull of life with a child In I Heart You. And illustrator Sarah Jane Wright’s evocative illustrations infuse the story with generous helpings of warmth and love.

Lucille Lang Day, author of The Rainbow Zoo, has published ten poetry collections, a memoir, and a previous children’s book, Chain Letter. She received her MFA in creative writing from San Francisco State University, and her MA in zoology and PhD in science/mathematics education from the University of California at Berkeley. She lives in Oakland, California, with her husband, writer Richard Michael Levine, and enjoys taking her four grandchildren on new adventures.

Gina Aoay Orosco, illustrator of The Rainbow Zoo was born and raised in San Francisco. She attended the Academy of Art University where she received a BFA in illustration. She currently lives in the Bay Area with her beloved husband and charming guinea pig. She loves trying all sorts of food and would love to try a plaid hot dog someday at the Rainbow Zoo.

Meg Fleming is the author of I Heart You; Ready, Set, Build!; Sometimes Rain; and other books for children. Also a voice teacher, Meg draws on her love of rhythm, rhyme, and lyricism to create and imagine stories. She lives outside of San Francisco with her husband and three kids. Visit her at MegFleming.net. (moonsoul7)… (more)

Fans of Children's Fairyland will be delighted with this historical book about our favorite Oakland children's attraction!

Five years before the birth of Disneyland, Children’s Fairyland opened on the shores of Lake Merritt in Oakland, a 10-acre storybook theme park designed to immerse young children in the world of stories and imagination. Over the years, Fairyland has amused and engaged generations of children and inspired similar storybook parks (including Walt Disney’s) around the country. This is the story of Oakland’s Fairyland, the little park with an enduring impact. It is a place where books, theater, animals, gentle rides, and creative play offer an alternative to highly commercial and technological entertainments. Through archival photographs, keepsakes, and remembrances, Children’s Fairyland offers a behind-the-scenes tour of this remarkable and enchanting place. (moonsoul7)… (more)

Feb

12

Mehrsa Baradaran, How the Other Half Banks: Exclusion, Exploitation, and the Threat to Democracy